The " Practice " of Medicine !

Through the centuries when what were really " Shamans " who mixed herbs to treat patients grew into the medical profession we know today and medical history is dotted with courageous men and women who have dared to step outside the guidelines and prove medical theories that have brought scorn from others.

There was a day when few medicos bothered to wash their hands between patients, and consequently a lot of people died from cross infections delivered by the very people they were consulting to save their lives.   The standards that apply to medicine are unforgiving and even  today those that encroach on the boundaries do so at great personal risk.

Just such a situation is unfolding within a medical investigation of a clinical oncologist and haematologist accused of practicing outside clinical guidelines.   It is claimed that fourteen of his patients were harmed or vulnerable to future harm because of his treatment decisions.  The public gallery was packed with a hundred and eighty supporters who contended that his innovations had succeeded in relieving their illnesses.

The issue under the spotlight - is chemotherapy.   This is a treatment for cancer and the specialist is accused of varying the dose and time factor from the approved guidelines that apply.   Chemotherapy has a notorious history of delivering hair loss, vomiting and unpleasant reactions to patients  and in some cases cancer patients refuse to be treated because of these conditions.

The accused specialist claimed that he had been " thrown under a bus " by the Health Minister because she was battling another matter publicly at that time and he was asked by a committee member " how many of his patients had died ? "     " We cannot cure everybody with cancer, "  he replied. " And some die from it. ".    He was often left to work on his own at night and during weekends because others did not wish to work at that location and as a result he felt some colleagues disapproved of him.

It is evident that this is developing into a divergence of opinion on what latitude should be in the hands of a treating doctor when it comes to evaluating individual circumstances.    There would be little to gain from subjecting a very old patient in the final grip of cancer to high dose chemotherapy with all its side effects.   In other cases, a treating doctor may decide that a lower dose may be more appropriate to an individuals situation.   It can become a clash between rigid guidelines and the opinion of the treating doctor.


How this case ends will have a big bearing on the political climate prevailing and  whether others in his profession decide to be merciful.   In so many instances what is condemned  and vilified at that time later becomes not only the accepted standard, but the professed gold standard for others to follow.    It is a brave soul who accepts the mantle of leadership !